When will the Green Claims come into effect?

The proposal from the European Commission is now being considered in parallel in the Parliament and the Council. Once Parliament and the Council have their positions ready, trilogue negotiations will take place.

Here, representatives from the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament and the European Commission are trying to find compromises that all three parties can support. The Parliament and the Council then formally adopt the final Green Claims Directive.

Due to the elections to the European Parliament in June 2024, the directive is expected to be finally adopted in the spring of 2025 at the earliest. After that, it must be implemented in national legislation. Therefore, it will probably not become applicable law for a few years.

Examples of environmental claims

Environmental claims are statements about the environmental benefits of companies and about the characteristics of the goods and services they offer. The claims can be about how products are manufactured, how they are packaged, or how they are distributed, used or disposed of. For instance:

"Packaging made from 30% recycled plastic"

"The company's environmental impact has decreased by 20% since 2015"

"The CO2 emissions associated with this product have been halved compared to 2020"